Cast: Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Maggie Q, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Laurence Fishburne, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell.
Dir: JJ Abrams.
Plot: Tom Cruise returns as secret agent Ethan Hunt who is forced out of retirement to do battle with a terrorist a little too close to home.
When it comes to Scientology, silent birthing rituals and public shows of emotion, Tom Cruise and myself are not singing from the same hymn sheet. But I think I can safely say that we are united in our love of kick-ass action movies. Admittedly I’m not his biggest fan, but credit where credit’s due, this puppy rocks. Yes, Mission: Impossible III is here and it doesn’t disappoint, delivering eye-popping entertainment from the word go with a no-questions asked plot plucked straight from the original TV series.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find a more thrilling action fest than this. But you won’t-because Tom Cruise pulls out all stops for his third outing as IMF agent Ethan Hunt on another ulcer-inducing mission. Forget self-destructing in five seconds. M:i:III literally explodes into a riot of hard-hitting action sequences which frazzle the brain within minutes of the titles rolling. If you thought the stunts couldn’t get any better than MI2 you’d be wrong.The explosions are bigger, armoured cars fly through the air, bridges collapse and countless buildings are completely obliterated. There’s a slick action sequence set right inside the Vatican in Rome - Da Vinci eat your heart out - and the highly charged finale in Shanghai is awesome.
Director, Lost creator JJ Abrams, has certainly done the third instalment proud. Hats off to him for outdoing both I and II. In this one Hunt has quit all his secret mission malarkey and settled down with fiancee Julia, the gorgeous Michelle Monaghan. She thinks her man is just a dull transport worker - but what girl wouldn’t date a traffic warden if he looked like Tommy boy? He’s seduced back to work with girl agent Zhen, played by Maggie Q, to save a trainee from the chubby hands of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s baddie Owen Davian. So with a team comprising trusty IT whizz Luther Stickell(Ving Rhames, again), Irish wheel-man Declan(Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and saucy lady Zhen, Hunt hatches a saucy plan.
Turns out Davian is trying to steal a rabbit foot. No, not an amazing lucky furry paw - but a code name for something which the film never deigns to explain. The stakes are raised when Davian takes Julia hostage and Hunt has to accept his impossible mission to save his woman and the world.The stakes are raised when Davian takes Julia hostage and Hunt has to accept his impossible mission to save his woman and the world.
Hoffman appears to enjoy beating up Cruise. It’s almost as if he’s not acting. Cruise, for his part, does the impossible as he leaps off tall buildings, springs through elevator shafts and walks away after a truck runs him over. This is action with a capital A with the odd twist thrown in for good measure. The script manages to cram all manner of crazy ideas such as brain-bombs with wild chopper chases, remaining just on the right side of preposterous. The only real problem is Cruise, who manifestly fails to convince as a human being. With his ten kilowatt grin, he’s less action hero and more action figure.
So some of the banter is Mission Implausible at times. I have a few other quibbles. Hunt demonstrates his amazing array of devices throughout only to be nearly thwarted by a dodgy mobile signal at the crucial moment. And the final dramatic twist is more likely to prompt a sceptical titter rather than shock you to death. Action addicts won’t like the soppy bits, including a slightly raunchy sex scene between Tom and Katie Holmes-lookalike Michelle, which will have her indoors seething, I suspect. Usually if Tom’s involved in a movie you can bank on it being pretty good and this heart-pumping all-actioner is no exception. And that’s great news for all us adrenaline junkies. Mission accomplished.